Greens call to dump Lord's Prayer 'ridiculous' - Landry

CAPRICORNIA MP Michelle Landry has labelled a call from the Greens to dump the Lord's Prayer from the opening of parliamentary sessions as 'ridiculous'.

The Federal Member for Capricornia said while modern Australia was a multicultural country that welcomed people from all around the globe, its citizens should not be ashamed of historical tradition.

"While acknowledging our nation's indigenous history which has spanned 40,000 years, if we look at Australia's modern history - the part where our Parliamentary system of democracy was established - there is nothing shameful in recognizing that it was based on Christian principals," Ms Landry said.

"I am not advocating that we become raving fundamentalists to the point of being accused of so-called 'bible bashing'. But there are many religions and people in the world, besides Christians, that share a belief in the same God."

Ms Landry said since early European occupation, Australia's population has been of a mix of cultures as far back as the gold rush days.

"No matter where you are from, everyone's culture and religion deserves to be respected and acknowledged," she said.

"But at a national level we don't need to be embarrassed because our modern laws, Parliamentary procedures and legislation have underlying Christian tones.

"What will the Greens want next. To ban Christmas and to downgrade Easter as simply the 'April' long weekend?

"Every nation has a mix of modern and ancient history. These Christian-based traditions have been part of Australian's modern history since at least Federation."

Mrs Landry said: "If people are happy to take the Christmas and Easter holiday breaks, they should be happy that Parliament acknowledges the Lord's Prayer.

"People who don't share that religious belief do not have to recite the prayer in Parliament. And I would respect that," the MP said.